15 Important Muslim Women in History

In honor of International Women’s Day, I thought it would be interesting to introduce people to several names of important Muslim women in history that they may not have encountered before. Although the names of such extraordinary figures as the Empress Theodora, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Joan of Arc, Anne Boleyn, Caterina Sforza, and Elizabeth I are generally well-known, their counterparts in the medieval and early modern Muslim world are not. Women played an important role in the pre-modern Muslim world as scholars, poets, mystics, rulers, and warriors. This is a very short list of some of them.